|
|
|
How Guerrillas
Economize When guerrilla marketers think of economizing, they don’t necessarily think of trying to save money. What they do think of is getting the absolute most from any money they’ve invested in marketing. They realize there are two kinds of marketing -- expensive and inexpensive -- and they know that expensive marketing is the kind that doesn’t cover the investment they’ve made in it, while inexpensive marketing pays rich rewards for their investment. Guerrillas have the insight to know that economizing has nothing to do with cost; it has everything to do with results. To be sure, guerrillas adopt a philosophy of frugality and thrift. They know well the difference between investing in something disposable such as paper and accounting services -- and investing in something that’s truly an investment, such as a telephone system or customer-tracking software -- items they’d use on a daily basis. There’s a big difference in these two expenses, so you won’t be surprised to learn that guerrillas rarely waste their time and effort on relatively low cost disposable purchases, but are willing to expend the time and energy to enjoy a large savings on a an expense that’s really an investment in disguise. A key to economizing is to think not in terms of purchasing, but in terms of acquiring. That means you open your mind to bartering, sharing, renting, modifying an existing item or borrowing it. It means possibly learning a few skills so that you can do rather than hire. Desktop publishing software enables you to save a ton of money usually paid to pros. Guerrillas are also keenly aware of when it makes sense to hire a pro, knowing that amateur-looking marketing is an invitation to disaster. They might hire a highly-paid professional designer to give their marketing items a powerful visual format, then use their own staff members or themselves to continue generating marketing materials that follow this same format. They learn from any consultant they hire. By understanding that economizing does
not mean saving money, but investing it wisely, guerrillas test their
investments on a small scale before plunging headlong into any kind of
marketing. They have no fear of failure, providing the failures are
small ones and knowing that even one success in ten tries means
discovering a path to wealth and profitability. Of all the methods of wasting money and
not economizing, the number Abandoning a marketing campaign before it has a chance to flourish squanders money in three ways. First, it means all prior investing in the campaign has been for naught. Second, it means new investing will be necessary to generate the share of mind that precedes a share of market. Third, it means creating new marketing materials all over again. Small business owners have other ways to waste money as well. Many of them invest in research instead of doing it themselves. Others dare to commit to a campaign they haven’t tested. Still others create marketing materials that must be updated regularly, rather than creating timeless marketing materials. When you say in a brochure that you’ve been in business five years, you must update that brochure next year. When you say you’ve been in business since l995, that’s always going to be the truth. High on the list of ways that small business marketers waste precious funds is their proclivity to invest in amusing marketing, funny marketing, even uproarious marketing. Marketing has an obligation to put money in your coffers, not smiles on the faces of your prospects. The most common method of economizing is also one of the most overlooked -- marketing to existing customers. It costs one-sixth as much to sell an item to an existing customer than to sell that same item to a non-customer. The price of discovering and convincing likely customers is astronomical when compared with the price of doing the same with current customers. Database marketing has lowered the cost of guerrilla marketing and yet some business owners fail to even try to make repeat sales. Guerrillas avoid buying what they want and don’t really need, don’t fall prey to slick salespeople representing new and unproved marketing tools, avert bad decisions by not making quick decisions, and constantly ask themselves -- "If I didn’t need this yesterday, why do I need it today?" Economic errors often made by
entrepreneurs are failure to negotiate, comparison shop or use the net
for pre-purchase research. They don’t know exactly where every one of
their dollars are going and don’t know that the leaner their spending
today, the fatter their cushion tomorrow.
Guerrilla Reality Marketing is a waste of money and time if you're not attuned to reality. Reality is not necessarily what you want it to be or what it used to be. Instead, reality is what really is. To many marketers, that's a major problem, but to guerrilla marketers, it's an inviting opportunity to stand apart from the competition. Reality to guerrillas is the realization that their prospects are constantly being bombarded with marketing, with enticing offers, with cut-rate and cut-throat pricing, and with innovative products and services. Guerrillas know that they're not marketing in a vacuum, but in a world where many factors, other than their own hopes and dreams, are influencing the way their prospects will act. Guerrillas are aware of the reality of the immense role of technology in attracting and serving customers. They know that if they're not keeping up, they're probably falling behind. If they're not embracing current technology that allows them to render superlative service, their competitors may be using it to woo away their customers. They're aware of the precious nature of time in their prospects' lives so they do all they can not to waste that time. They're aware, most of all, of their prospects' priorities. Often, the top priority is the attaining of profits, but that's not always the case. That's why they learn all they can about what's important and not important to their prospects and customers. Reality to guerrillas takes ten important factors into account: 1. The state of the economy must always be considered, for it dictates which marketing tactics will work best. In a down economy, guerrillas adjust their marketing by speaking more to customers than prospects and by working like demons to gain referral and follow-up business. 2. The competitive scene is part of reality because competitors have more information than ever before, and they use it to fuel to their marketing. You just can't ignore competitors who are out to win the hearts and minds of your customers. 3. The latest technology is reality because it enables guerrillas to produce more marketing tools, to expose their message to more people, and to reduce their marketing costs as they learn the ropes about desktop publishing, the Internet, speedy communications and affordable new media. 4. The news of the day has a major impact on reality. Your prospects keep up with the news and they react accordingly. Unless you do the same, expect the worst. 5. Reality also includes your marketing budget because you must live with it and make it stretch to its fullest extent. Now, more than ever, that budget enables guerrillas to market actively but not expensively. 6. Reality is the inevitable clutter of other marketing, the blizzard of direct mail each day, the increasing sophistication of marketing techniques. 7. Reality is knowing that your prospects have things on their mind other than your marketing and why they should buy what you're selling. Guerrillas adapt their marketing to that reality by facing it squarely. 8. Reality is knowing the difference between a motivating marketing message and a clever marketing message. Many marketers haven't a clue as to the difference and often mistake the two. 9. Alas, reality is also a ho-hum attitude on the public's mind when it comes to marketing. They have many things to consider each day and you can be pretty certain that marketing is not one of them. 10. Finally, reality is knowing the value of commitment to a plan, patience with a program and restraint in making changes. Reality is seeing clearly that marketing is not an event, but a process. It's a process that takes time. If you're not willing to invest that time, along with your money and your energy, you're living in an unreal world. Guerrillas strive to live in the same world as their prospects and customers. GUERRILLA INSIGHTS An old adage reminds us that if you have foresight, you are blessed, and if you have insight, you are twice blessed. Here are two insights to make you quadruple blessed. The single most important insight for the new millennium is to reach out for your customer base. Ranking up there near the top is to engage in as much one-on-one marketing as you possibly can. Attesting to that is the hottest application for an internet site -- chat sessions. People love the one-on-one aspect of it, so that even though millions of people are online, many of them are engaged in one-on-one conversations. That alone is probably the biggest reason for America Online’s unparalleled success. Although I’ve already written of the internet in several books, I’m reminding you here of its unique ability in one-to-one communicating. With email, it’s fast and easy to carry on a dialogue with your prospects and customers. Of course, you can also do it at trade shows, on the phone, when you are in person, and by mail. But faster and easier is the net. Guerrillas know in their hearts that every customer is an individual and wants to be treated as such. Customer questionnaires let them learn of the individualities. They know that although there are tens of thousands of names on their mailing list, those people want to be serviced and sold to one at a time. One-on-one marketing is akin to having somebody whisper in your ear rather than shouting across the street, as is the case with mass media marketing. It gives guerrillas a chance to cozy up to customers, customize their marketing, increase the delight factor of doing business with them. The essence of the guerrilla’s joy -- long-term relationships -- is found in one-on-one marketing. Guerrillas know well the enormous difference between their customers and their best customers. This enables them to treat their customers like royalty and their best customers like family. To engage in one-on-one marketing, they must market with absolute precision. They must know their best customers from the rest, then market to them in ways that prove they care. Guerrillas tailor their relationships to helping their customers succeed at whatever they wish to succeed at. They do all they can warm up relationships. And they play favorites. Just keep in mind the true tale of the non-profit organization that increased its response rate 668 percent by treating its biggest donors in a special way -- special but not expensive. They mailed to them a letter requesting funds, and enclosed the letter in a handwritten envelope using a commemorative stamp. At the end of the letter was a 25-word handwritten note. Hardly fancy, but astonishingly effective. It’s not quite one on one, but it gives you the feel of one-on-one marketing in action. It’s the wave of the future. And to guerrillas, it’s the wave of the present. It’s also an insight possessed by all guerrillas. Another insight for this millennium and all the millenia to follow is to possess basic knowledge of human behavior. Human beings do not like making decisions in a hurry and are not quick to develop relationships. They certainly do want relationships, but they’ve been stung in the past and they don’t want to be stung again. They have learned well to distrust much marketing because of its proclivity to exaggeration. All too many times they’ve read of sales at stores and learned that only a tiny selection of items were on sale. They’ve been bamboozled more times than you’d think by the notorious fine print on contracts. And they’ve been high pressured by more than one salesperson. That’s why they process your marketing communications in their unconscious minds, eventually arriving at their decisions because of an emotional reason even though they may say they are deciding based on logic. They factor a lot about you into their final decision -- how long they’ve heard of you, where your marketing appears, how it looks and feels to them, the quality of your offer, your convenience or lack of it, what others have said about you, and most of all, how your offering can be of benefit to their lives. Although they state that they now want what you’re selling, and they do it in a very conscious manner, you can be sure they were guided by their unconscious minds. The consistent communicating of your benefits, your message and your name has penetrated their sacred unconscious mind. They’ve come to feel that they can trust you and so they decide to buy. Any pothole in their road to purchasing at this point might dissuade them. They call to make an inquiry and they are treated shabbily on the phone? You’ve lost them. Do they access your website for more information and either find no website or find one littered with self-praise You’ve lost them. They visit you and feel pressured or misunderstood? They’re gone. You’ve got to realize that the weakest point in your marketing can derail all the strong points. Excellence through and through, start to finish, is what people have come to expect from businesses, and these days, they won’t settle for less. Marketing is a 360 degree process and you’ve got to do it right from all angles at all times. When it comes to marketing, people have built-in alarm systems, and any shady behavior on your part sets the bells to clanging, the sirens screaming. It is very difficult to woo a person from the brand they use right now to your brand. Although they are loathe to change, they do change. And when they do, they patronize businesses that understand the psychology of human beings and the true nature of marketing. If you’re the guerrilla I think you are, you understand both. Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of the "Guerrilla Marketing" series of books, the best-selling marketing series in history. His book have been translated into 37 languages and more than one million copies have been sold. To learn of his two-day workshops in Marin County, California, October 13-14 and November 17-18, send an email to gmintl@aol.com or call 415-381-8361. His website is at www.gmarketing.com. For details of his coaching program featuring live phone calls with Jay, visit www.gmarketingcoach.com.
|
